Click on any of the tutor names below to read their biography.
Dance Tutors:Song Tutors:Concertina Tutor:Button Accordion Tutor: |
Fiddle Tutors:Flute Tutors:Banjo Tutor:Harmonic Accompaniment: |
Colin Dunne
In 2008, International dancing sensation, Colin Dunne, tutored for the full two weeks of Blas 2008. Colin's agreement to join us for the full session is further evidence of his commiment to the Irish World Academy, his loyal association to the Blas Summer School and his personal attraction to tutoring on the Banks of the Shannon.
Colin Dunne is probably best known for his live and video performances in "Riverdance - The Show", and for his own critically acclaimed production of "Dancing on Dangerous Ground", for which he co-produced, choreographed and starred in with Jean Butler. See the Colin Dunne website for more information: www.colindunne.com ..>
Mats Melin
Swedish born Traditional Dancer, Choreographer and Researcher Mats Melin has worked professionally with dance in Scotland since 1995. He has been engaged in freelance work nationally and internationally as well as having been Traditional Dancer in Residence for 4 Local Authorities. Mats co-started the dynamic Scottish performance group ‘Dannsa’ in 1999 and have been commissioned to choreograph for the Northlands and St Magnus Festivals. Mats was a former member of the Scottish Arts Council's Dance Committee. In 2005 Mats graduated with first class honours the Master of Arts degree in Ethnochoreology at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland. He is currently working as a dance teacher and lecturer at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
Orfhlaith Ni Bhriain
Orfhlaith Ni Bhriain is a registered Irish Dance teacher T.C.R.G. and adjudicator A.D.C..R.G. with An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha. She has travelled extensively to workshops and Step Dance Competitions throughout Europe and North America as a tutor from the renowned Scoil Rince Ui Ruairc and dance accompanist.
In 1998 she completed a Masters in Ethnochoreology at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. Orfhlaith has lectured and tutored on the B.A. in Irish Dance at the University of Limerick and also worked as assistant lecturer in Dance in the Physical Education Department, Mary Immaculate College , Limerick.
Recently she completed a residency at Williams College MA where she was employed as guest artist in dance. During her residency there, she also gave workshops in Irish dance at the American Colleges Dance Festival in Plymouth New Hampshire.
Orfhlaith is Dance Co-ordinator on the BA Irish Music and Dance at The University of Limerick. A Ph.D. student at the Academy, her research interests include, Irish Dance among the Diaspora and examining creative processes in the context of Competitive Irish Solo Step Dance.
Dr. Catherine Foley
Catherine Foley designed and is course director of both the MA in Ethnochoreology and the MA in Irish Traditional Dance Performance (one of the two streams of dance performance within the MA in Dance Performance), at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. She is also the director of Trath na gCos, an annual festival of traditional dance which records and contextually explores the diversity within Irish traditional dance practices; and is dance consultant for Blas the international summer school in Irish traditional music and dance at the centre. She has published internationally while continuing to perform.
Catherine is a native of Cork city whose upbringing was steeped in Irish traditional music and dance. She is a qualified Irish step-dance teacher (T.C.R.G.), and also holds a B.Mus. and a H.Dip. in Education from University College, Cork. Her Ph.D. thesis on Irish Traditional Step-dance in North Kerry, was the first on the topic in the world and this she completed at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, London. For six years Catherine taught music and Gaeilge in Baile Mhuirne, the west Cork Gaeltacht; she worked as a collector of Irish traditional music, songs, and step-dances for Muckross House Folk Museum, Killarney, Co. Kerry; and is an Associate of LAMDA in acting. Together with her academic work in Ethnochoreology, Catherine is a performer and a choreographer of Irish step-dance, and a musician.
Breandán de Gallaí
Breandán de Gallaí is a professional Irish dancer, who is most famous for his lead role in the famed Riverdance show. Born into a family of seven, by his father Gearóid who's from Belfast and mother Nellie, originally from Gaoth Dobhair. In 1987 he went to the USA and joined the Gus Giordano's dance academy and there he studied Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Tap dancing. Back in Dublin, Ireland he worked as a teacher teaching Applied Physics and Irish after completing a four year degree at Dublin City University. He was first picked by Michael Flatley to join Riverdance for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. In the meantime de Gallaí set up his own dance company called Dualta with few other friends. In 1998 de Gallaí took the lead role in Riverdance and has been honoured to perform for and to meet the late King Hussein of Jordan, the Emperor of Japan, the Crown Prince of Japan, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Queen Sonja of Norway and Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. He states Vaslav Nijinski as one of his biggest influences. Breandán has completed Balor, a 90 minute contemporary Irish dance show to music composed by Joe Csibi. A former artist-in-residence at the Irish World Academy, Breandan is now one of the first students of the new PhD Arts Practice programme at the Academy, along with singer Iarla O Lionaird, musician Michelle Mulcahy and singer Sharon Lyons.
Niall Keegan (Flute)
Niall Keegan was born in the south east of England and began playing Irish traditional flute at an early age amongst the community of first and second generation musicians in and around London.
In 1990 Niall began studying under Dr Mícheál Ó Súileabháin for a Masters degree which he completed in 1992 with the submission of a thesis entitled The Words of Traditional Flute Style.
Since moving to Ireland Niall has performed extensively throughout the country and abroad in a variety of contexts and venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Project Arts Centre in Dublin, the University of Limerick Concert Hall, The National Concert Hall in Dublin, The Waterfront Hall in Belfast and the Galway Arts Centre. Niall’s solo recording, Don’t Touch the Elk, was released in June 1999 on his own independent label.
Niall is the course director of the MA Irish Traditional Music Performanceat the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.
http://www.ul.ie/~iwmc/research/niallbio.html
John Carty
John Carty is one of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians having been awarded the Irish Television station, TG4’s Traditional Musician of the Year in 2003. He joins previous acclaimed winners Matt Molloy (Chieftains flautist), Tommy Peoples (Master Fiddler), Mary Bergin (whistle player, Dordan), Máire Ní Chathasaigh (Harpist) and Paddy Keenan (Uilleann Piper), all of whom are considered to be the leading exponents of their instruments within the Irish tradition.
Carty already has three solo fiddle albums, two banjo albums, two group albums and a sprinkling of recorded tenor guitar and flute music recordings under his belt so it's little wonder he should have joined such elusive ranks. John is a tutor at the Irish World Academy.
Martin Hayes
Martin Hayes’ accomplishments extend far and wide, both artistically and geographically. He has been an All-Ireland fiddle champion six times over, and has taken home a National Entertainment Award, the Irish equivalent to the "Grammy."
Born in Ireland and now residing in Seattle, Martin plays in the slow, lyrical style of his native East County Clare. He grew up playing traditional music with his father, P.J. Hayes, leader of the famed Tulla Ceili Band. The younger fiddler has a great reverence for the old players, whose music contains the longing and essence that moves you at the level of your soul. Martin brings that same depth to his own playing, rendering it unique with passion and intimacy.
(Extracts from the official Martin Hayes website: www.martinhayes.com)
Mícheál Ó'Súilleabháin
Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin is one of Ireland's best known musicians. He has over ten CD recordings on release of his own compositions and arrangements performed by the Irish Chamber Orchestra under his direction. As a pianist, he is widely acknowledged as having originated a unique Irish piano style out of an Irish traditional base.
Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin is Professor of Music at the University of Limerick where he founded the Irish World Music Centre in 1994, which has now grown into the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Visit Mícheál's official website: www.mosmusic.ie
Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh
(pronounced MWI-ren Nick OWL-eve). Muireann toured and performed with various musicians and groups before joining the group Danú in 2003. In 2004 they won the BBC 2 Folk Award for "Best Group". At the same awards, the song "The County Down" by Tommy Sands that Danú had recently recorded, won "Best Song". Muireann herself won "Best Singer" at the liveireland.com Awards in 2005. Now a regular contributor to television and radio programmes at home and abroad, she featured prominently in the recent "Highland Sessions" BBC television series, celebrating the best of Irish and Scottish traditional music and song.
Donal Lunny
Donal Lunny is an Artist-in-Residence at the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick. He is the first traditional music-linked member of the Irish Arts Council-sponsored Aosdána and has been a central thread in the tapestry of Irish traditional music in its most creative interactive modes over a generation. He was was born in Tullamore Co Offaly before moving to Newbridge, County Kildare. In 1971, he was one of the founding members of Planxty, for whom he wrote the countermelodies and arranged harmonic structures and chord patterns for guitar and harmonium. He also played bouzouki, guitar, keyboards and bodhráns on all Planxty's recordings. 'Planxty' recorded three albums in the period 1971-1973 and redefined traditional Irish music. Their albums included 'Cold Blow and the Rainy Night' and 'The Well below the Valley'. In 1975, he joined the Bothy Band, producing four albums in four years including 'Out of the Wind and in to the Sun' and 'After Hours'. In 1980, Planxty reformed and Donal produced the three resulting albums before finally forming Moving Hearts with some of his former Planxty band-mates. Moving Hearts', who were responsible for such albums as 'Dark End of the Street' and 'The Storm,' were a hybrid, incorporating contemporary folk music, jazz and other influences with elements of rock. Donal has also composed for stage and television including the soundtrack for 'Eat the Peach' (1985) and 'This is my Father' (1997) and the opening title music for the series 'Bringing it all Back Home' (1991) and 'River of Sound' (1997). In 1996 he won the IRMA Producer of the Year award and in 1998, the National Entertainment Award.
His residency at the Irish World Academy to date has included an intensive week-long workshop at the Blas Summer School in July 2009 which will be repeated at the 2010 summer school. He has also worked intensively with students of the Academy’s BA and MA Irish Traditional Music Performance as part of this year-long residency.
Sandra Joyce
A native of Tuam, Co. Galway, I am a graduate of University College, Cork. I am currently finishing my PhD at the University of Limerick under the joint supervision of Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, University of Limerick and Dr. Paul Everett, University College, Cork. The subject of my research is Turlough O' Carolan, the late seventeenth- / early eighteenth-century blind harper / composer. (I have been asked to contribute a paper entitled "An Introduction to O' Carolan's Music in Eighteenth-Century Printed Collections", to the forthcoming publication Proceedings of the Maynooth International Conference, 1995, due to be published early 1996). I have also done some research on the ballad and ballad singing in Ireland, especially among the travelling people of my own home area, and this is of great importance to me.
I have taught and continue to teach extensively in a variety of capacities. I am currently involved in the teaching of an Irish Music Studies course at the University of Limerick, which is aimed primarily at Study Abroad American students and Erasmus students. I also teach ear / notation classes at Maoin Cheoil an Chláir , based in Ennis, Co. Clare, a music school which equally recognises and promotes Irish music and European classical music.
However, my first love is Irish traditional music and singing. My main instrument is the bodhrán, and I play mostly with the innovative flute player Niall Keegan . I am also a singer of traditional songs in the English language.
Sandra is the Course Director of the MA Irish Traditional Music Performance
Derek Hickey
Derek Hickey hails from Adare, Co. Limerick. Both his grandfathers played fiddle and his own musical career began at ten years of age when his uncle left an accordion in the family home. Derek progressed to dance tunes within weeks though he didn’t begin lessons - under the tutelage of Dónal de Barra - until he was 12.
Derek’s professional career began three years later when he joined the Shannonside Céilí Band. Formed by the Liddy family the band was particularly popular in the north of the country. It also toured extensively in England and made regular trips throughout Europe.
In 1991 Frankie Gavin asked Derek to join him for regular sessions in his then leased hotel in Kinvara, Co. Galway. One year later, at just eighteen years of age Derek joined Arcady, Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh’s band. Frances Black, Brendan Larrisey and Patsy Broderick were also members of the band at that time and many other household names have played in the line-up including Sharon Shannon, Cathal Hayden and Gerry O’Connor.
In 1995 Derek joined the legendary De Dannan. The De Dannan sound has always been based around the interaction between Frankie Gavin’s virtuoso fiddle and the box. Other great box players in De Dannan’s colourful history have included Jackie Daly, Mairtin O’Connor and Aidan Coffey. His pairing with Gavin proved to be one of the best box and fiddle duets ever. He toured with De Dannan until they disbanded in 2003. Derek is a button accordion tutor on the BA Irish Music and Dance at the Irish World Academy.
Siobhán Peoples
Siobhán Peoples is a mighty fiddle player, and a highlight of a trip to Ennis for many a musical tourist has long been the chance to hear her play in a session around town. With the recent release of a duet album with accordion player Murty Ryan, Time On Our Hands, many more people will have the pleasure of hearing her play. She is also a strong argument for a gene of musical talent that’s yet to be found on the DNA maps: her father, of course, is the legendary Tommy Peoples, and her grandmother on her mother’s side was Kitty Linnane, the piano player with the storied Kilfenora Ceili Band. For all that one might expect a certain quest for fame, or sense of self-importance, but Siobhán is interested only in the music. In here own words, she’s “mad for it.”
She may be a Clarewoman but Siobhan Peoples is also heir to a peerless Donegal fiddling tradition. The precision and intricacy of her performance of both Clare and Northern music has made her one of our most sought-after fiddlers. She has carved a niche as an outstanding performer and teacher. Siobhan presently lives and plays music in Ennis. There is a huge catalogue of recordings by Siobhan, the most recent being Time on our hands, a collaboration with box-player Murty Ryan. Siobhan is a fiddle tutor on the BA Irish Music and Dance at the Irish World Academy.
Ernestine Healy
Ernestine hails from County Mayo. From an early age she was surrounded by music. A qualified secondary school teacher, she is presently working as a lecturer in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, in the University of Limerick. Having occupied the position of Acting Course Director on the Graduate Diploma in Music Education postgrad programme during 2008/09, she is now lecturing on the BA in Irish Music and Dance undergraduate programme.
Ernestine is an internationally recognized concertina player, as well as a tutor and producer on the Irish musical scene. She has been engaged for events such as the ‘Milwaukee Irish Music Festival’, workshops in Germany, ‘Tocane’ in France, ‘Scoil Eigse’ as part of the All Ireland Fleadh, ‘Eigse Mrs.Crotty’ in Kilrush, Co Clare, Corofin Traditional Festival, as well as numerous other festivals & workshops around Ireland, Europe & America. Ernestine is a regular performer on both local and national radio, and has made numerous TV appearances including ‘The Fleadh Programme’ & ‘The Reel Deal’ (2009 Broadcast).
In addition to being an engaging performer and teacher, Ernestine’s portfolio also extends to research on Irish traditional music, Composition & Music Education for which she was duly awarded a First class Masters degree from the University of Limerick in 2008.
She is also a well-known composer of traditional Irish music in Ireland, with compositions featuring on numerous albums. In 2004 along with a school colleague, she composed and scripted her first musical based on the children’s story ‘The Wind in the Willows’. After completing her Masters in 2008, she scored her first suite ‘The Meitheal Suite’ which was performed by a 100 strong orchestra of Traditional Musicians as part of the Meitheal Summer school week subsequently followed by a performance in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Ernestine is currently working on a recording project utilizing numerous of her compositions and arrangements for traditional music with string, brass & percussion ensembles, along with recording an album with her band ‘The Attic Jacks’.
Having worked as the Director of Meitheal Residential Summer School since its inauguration in 2004, she was appointed the Director of Blas International Summer School for Traditional Music and Dance in January 2010.
